A plume of smoke rises near Erbil International Airport in Erbil yesterday. Loud explosions were heard near Erbil airport, which hosts US-led coalition troops in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. Photo / Shvan Harki, AFP
A plume of smoke rises near Erbil International Airport in Erbil yesterday. Loud explosions were heard near Erbil airport, which hosts US-led coalition troops in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. Photo / Shvan Harki, AFP
A leading Iranian cleric declared jihad against America and Israel today as anti-United States protests swept across the region following the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
At least nine protesters were killed in Pakistan when crowds tried to storm a US consulate compound following the newsthat American and Israeli strikes had killed Khamenei on Saturday.
Crowds shouted “death to Israel, death to America” and breached the outer wall of the consulate in Karachi, before they were beaten back by Pakistani paramilitary police.
A diplomat in the Karachi compound said everyone inside was safe. Reporters at the scene reported gunfire as police clashed with the crowds.
As protests spread, some of Iran’s most senior ayatollahs declared a religious obligation for Muslims to avenge his death.
Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi issued a fatwa (ruling) for jihad against America and Israel and said vengeance was “the religious duty of all Muslims in the world so that the evil of these criminals is eradicated from the Earth”.
Ayatollah Hossein Noori Hamedani earlier issued a written fatwa declaring that vengeance was an obligation.
He wrote: “It is obligatory on all Muslims to avenge the blood of their martyred leader from the perpetrators of this crime”.
The 100-year-old ayatollah is considered among the most conservative senior clerics in the city of Qom, a centre of Shia Islam. Tens of thousands of followers consult his religious edicts on matters ranging from daily worship to major life decisions.
Pakistan and Iraq have the largest Shia Muslim populations after Iran, and Tehran wields significant influence in Iraqi politics, while also backing armed groups whose power has grown both politically and financially.
People mourn the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in joint US and Israeli strikes, in Tehran. Photo / Getty Images
Protesters set fire to a United Nations office in the northern Pakistani city of Skardu, in the normally peaceful Shia-majority Gilgit-Baltistan region which is popular with tourists visiting its Himalayan peaks.
Hundreds more gathered outside another consulate in the Punjab city of Lahore and in Islamabad, the capital, police blocked off all roads leading to the diplomatic and government district.
Black-clad protesters in Iraq tried to storm the fortified Green Zone housing the US embassy in Baghdad.
Protesters chanted “for you Khamenei” and threw stones at the security forces who responded with tear gas.
One masked protester, who gave his name as Ali, told AFP “the martyrdom of Sayyid Ali Khamenei has hurt us”.
“We are here because we want the withdrawal of the occupying American forces from Iraq,” referring to US-led coalition troops who recently reduced their presence and are now mostly stationed in northern Iraq.
US defence systems intercepted at least two drones on Sunday over the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, as sirens sounded from the American consulate.
Explosions were heard and smoke was visible in the sky. Earlier, Iran’s Army said it targeted US bases in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
Several Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups said that they would not remain “neutral” and would defend the Islamic Republic.
The powerful Kataeb Hezbollah group said it would attack US bases after two of its fighters were killed in air strikes in southern Iraq.
The US Embassy in Iraq urged its nationals to limit movement and be ready to shelter after “reports of missiles, drones, or rockets in Iraqi airspace”.
In Iran, thousands of people came out in support of the regime and Khamenei, who was killed in an early wave of Israeli-US air strikes on Saturday.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Khamenei’s assassination was a “declaration of war against Muslims” vowing vengeance.
Iraq also announced a three-day mourning period following Khamenei’s death.
Government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi said in a statement that “with deep sorrow, we extend our condolences to the noble people of Iran and the entire Muslim world” after Khamenei was killed in “a blatant act of aggression”.
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